A few days ago, I bought a GORGEOUS full sized Kimber 1911, blued, .45 ACP with beautiful grey/striped walnut grips.  I LOVE this gun.  However, on the 1911 forum there seems to be a general dislike of Kimber 1911s.  Why is this?  I had narrowed it down to the Kimber or a Sig.  They were both roughly the same price, so the salesman (who I've known for a while and has always been straight shooter) had no incentive in selling me one versus the other.  He just said that he and the other people he works with think that Kimber and Sig make the best (non custom) 1911s.  In fact, he said the owner spent an entire day researching and debating buying the Sig or the Kimber.  He ended up getting the same Kimber I bought and absolutely loves it!!!!  So what gives?  What's with all the negativity regarding Kimber on the 1911 forum?  Any input would be greatly appreciated!!!  Thanks in advance!!!

Oh boy.....where to start. I have three 1911's.

Enjoy your gun. You shouldn't have any problems. Some people say the same junk about Colt....S&W....Sig.......

Enjoy your gun. I know (personally, not through the net) 5 people with Kimbers. 4 had issues, 3 took awhile to sort out with Kimber. Nothing that wasn't fixable, just took some time. Mostly just odd feed issues. I think two had some ejector problem. You should be able to Google about and see if there are any recent issues on the Interweb.

Kimber, I think, used to be a top tier or at least a mid range 1911. Now it's in the crowded upper part of the lower end guns, or the lower end of the mid range 1911's. Many people consider them overpriced.  But don't even worry about this. You bought a fine gun, enjoy it.

From what I have seen on Kimber, quality control slipped. They went from a hand-built shop to a mass manufacturer and the quality suffered. Comments I have seen over time range from rusting to reliability....

I have no hard data but here is my feeling based upon talking to lots of gun folks.

Kimber at one point were very finely finished and fitted to the point they were bumping against the bottom of the market of the custom guns (Les Bare,Wilson) Not the same but you got some of the quality at a price less than the custom guys for not a whole lot more than a Colt.

Then something happened. Many think it was because they ramped up production and were not spending so much time tuning each gun .
They still offer some beautiful finishes and feature packages but some of the guns end up going back and forth to the factory one or more times
before things are done. This is very time consuming and tends to piss off the customer who has dropped big money for a gun that wasn't really finished.

1911s are tricky. I think it is because the design was from a time when skilled hand labor was cheap. We all need to realise the original design was intended to be assembled as a loose rattletrap military firearm. When someone starts building it ultra tight to become a match gun it is a altogether different thing with a different set of problems.

Another problem is Kimbers decision to only sell to large high volume dealers leaving the little local gun store to buy on the sly from some third party middle man at a boosted price. I expect some of the bad will being generated against Kimber is fired by those local gun store owners who can't be competitive with Kimbers.

I think there are two major players to watch in the 1911 world . S&W is putting out a fine product it you can get past the external extractor and Dan Wesson seems to be ahead of the curve in building tight ,finely fitted and finished guns at a decent price point. Both of these guys are cranking out some real nice guns.

I own 14 1911 pistols , 3 are kimbers and never had a problem. they are every bit as good as colt, springfield and the others. I keep my guns clean and well oiled so rust hasnt been an issue either.
in fact my kimbers seem to be a little more accurate for me as well. every gun maker has or has had some bad guns made so dont listen for 1 minute to all the crap. do they have a few that had issues, sure they do but no worse than the orher companies. enjoy your pistol and ignore the rumors.

I own four different Kimbers, all have been great right out of the box. Never had any rust and nothing has broken in10,000 plus rounds fired. As a matter of fact sold both of my Colts. The Kimbers did everything better then the Colts and looked better doing it.

Every manufacturer from time to time will have problems. I own 4 Kimber and 3 Springfield .45 1911's. All are at least 8 years old. The Kimbers have been 100% reliable to date, while 2 of the 3 Springfields were problematic out of the box. In one case Springfield had installed the wrong extractor, and the other one needed some serious feed ramp contouring and polishing before it would feed reliably.

even Colts.

my Kimber ran fine out of the box. i shot it immediately after doing the paperwork. no problems at all.

main thing i see is their CS policy of a 500rd break in period. if the gun doesn't function properly out of the box, then you messed up at the factory. shooting 500 rds through the gun isn't going to fix it.

Love my Pro Crimson Carry, though it has a tendency to throw casings right in your face. Been meaning to call Kimber but haven't got around to it.

I purchased the Custom TLE II last June. Have a littlebover 1000 rounds through it. Not one problem. The same goes for a friend who has 2 of them. You're probably paying a little extra for the established name. Not to downplay any issues others may or may not have had. But you're always gonna hear more about problems than about someone satisfied or happy with a product that does its job.

Edit
And the break in period is relevant. Mine seemed to run better and better after the first 200rnds. Kimber has pretty tight tolerances. Little to no "slop".  Which is something I also like about it. Something about a gun that rattles when you shoot it makes me a little nervous. Maybe just me..

unlike polymer pistols and looser fitting 1911s, i think the break-in period for a kimber is relevant...i have a custom II and love it, but i've had my share of issues.. the biggest issue i've had is failure to feeds on the last round while using a CMC 10 rounder.. i've put maybe 750-1000 rounds through my kimber, and the past two times i've taken it out, no issues..

second to last time i shot it, i only used an 8 round mag that had tighter spring pressure than the CMC mags, and no issues. Last time i shot it, i only used my CMC 10 rounders and also had no issues. Kimbers are steel on steel guns, and they are fit very tight, so for me, it took upwards of over 500 rounds to break in. they also need to be run clean and wet. I have a glock, too, and that thing can run dirty as hell with minimum lube, no problem, but my Kimber performs way better if it's thoroughly cleaned after around 200 rounds and lubed very well when shooting.

i'll have to see if i have any more issues in the future when shooting my limber. it's great, accurate (and i'm not a great shooter, but the kimber has helped me improve my accuracy), and it may take several hundred rounds to break in. I never called kimber for customer service or anything, and hopefully i won't have to in the future.

enjoy your new toy, i love my 1911, one of my favorite guns to shoot and it's helped me improve my accuracy with my other pistols as well..

aw bullshit this is an often repeated  crap  from internet posting by a few that has ballooned

I have two Kimbers  shoot the shit out of them - don't change springs,  use all kinds of ammo,  have about 5,000 + plus rounds through them after three years  and they are  fine guns  a lot  of envy goes on when people bash KIMBERS  pure and simple  - can't afford one  bash it and buy a Rock River  or some other brand and  keep bashing what they wanted in the first place

Your gun is fine. It's like anything else people have their faves and dislikes. I personally don't like their warranty but it wouldn't necessarily stop me from buying it. Go to the Kimber forum on 1911 plenty of people love them. Enjoy

Love my Kimber warrior.

I've got alot of time on Kimbers, most of my family owns one.....or several
I had heard of the problems.


but I've never encountered one.
My warrior has been 100% since I bought it in 2005.
plan to buy more when funds allow


Kmbers and Glocks are my favorite pistols
........and colts of course

12 yr old stainless gold match.  Love it. Its my single stack USPSA gun so gets shot a lot.

Got  three Kimbers, never a problem with any of them.  Have one Springfield 1911 and that one had to go back to the factory for feed problems.  You will love your new Kimber.

I own three Kimbers and all three have run fine with excellent reliability and accuracy.  

I've owned Series 70 Colts and trust me, they were far from perfect.  The fingered collet they used in the 70s was intended to improve accuracy but it was a malfunction waiting to happen.   In that context Kimber actually does a very good job of combining accuracy with reliability.  

The qualifier here is that you do have to run them wet, and shooters used to Glocks and other pistols that are run mostly dry are usually among the first to complain about how crappy Kimbers function.  

I suspect most of the complaints about Kimbers are from shooters who know someone who has one or know someone who knows someone who knows a guy with a Kimber, or maybe they just read how crappy they are on the internet and want to "wow" you with their gun knowledge.  

Others complain that the Kimber is over priced, then cite how great/accurate/reliable there $400 1911 is  - leaving out the effort it took to get it there, the cost of parts and GS work, and usually not really quantifying what they mean by "great", "accurate" or "reliable". They also seem to leave out or choose to ignore that some of them do run well right out of the box, but at the lower price point, you get much wider variation in tolerances so the odds of getting one that runs well is much lower than with a Kimber.  You really do get what you pay for.

Magazine quality also matters.  I can put a crappy worn out mag with a weak spring and bent feed lips in a perfect high dollar custom 1911 and it won't be reliable.  It's not the pistol's fault, and neither is it a Kimbers fault when it fails with a crap magazine.  

If you have an aluminum framed Kimber, you'll want to stay away from magazines with open ended followers that let the magazine follower "peck" at the feed ramp when the last round feeds.  If your feed ramp starts getting chipped it's not the pistol's fault, it's the operators failure to use a compatible magazine.  Kimber needs to be more specific about mentioning this, but now you know so it doesn't matter what Kimber didn't tell you.      

Much of the Kimber hate is driven by the Schwartz system firing pin safety on the "II" series pistols.  The haters will tell you how prone they are to breakage and failing at the worst possible moment.  They are not in fact unreliable or prone to parts breakage - if treated properly.  However you have to understand the differences required in field stripping and re-assembling any of the  Kimber II series pistol and a standard 1911A1 style pistol.    I could go into painful detail, but what basically happens is that 1911 shooters used to re-assembling other 1911, hold the pistol so that the arm for the schwartz system falls and blocks the slide movement when they are trying to install the slide on the frame.  So they go "huh?"...and then whack the slide and frame together harder and harder until it finally gets bounced up out of the way. Then they cry about how the parts in the schwartz system break, apparently not realizing they beat the crap out of it very time they re-assemble the weapon.  Golly, who'd a saw that coming.  If the shooter instead reads the manual and assembles the pistol correctly no damage is done to the schwartz system parts and they'll never let you down.

I have two Kimbers. One is a Pro CDP II I bought new. It had a 'break in' period for whatever reason. After about 500 rnds it's been flawless.

I bought my Custom II in July of 2007.  While I haven't fired a whole lot of rounds through it, I've never had any issues.  I bought a .22lr conversion kit for it a few months later.  The first 5 or 6 mags through it would have an occasional hiccup, but after that, it's been flawless also.



I also don't get all the hate for MIM.  It's kinda like when people bash Springfield Armory M1As because the recievers are cast instead of forged.  The truth is, it doesn't really matter.  If you shoot enough to actually wear out cast reciever, money is probably no object to you.

I've had 7 Kimbers. Three series I and the rest series II. All of them ran out of the box.

I did have a rear sight blade break on a Series I stainless gold medal match. Kimber replaced the sight and overnighted it back to me.

Had a stainless pro raptor ii and now have a stainless pro tle rl ii... both have been good right out of the gate. Run flawless for many rounds.

Brother has a grand raptor that also ran perfect and been a great 1911.

I recently picked up a Kimber Ultra TLE.  Spooky accurate, probably even better in a full size model like you have.  Not one issue with FMJ ammo.  The only issue mine has is with Speer Gold Dots 230gr JHP and Wilson mags, the Kimber mags have no problem...go figure...I started a thread on that to get some assistance.  My round count is only at about 800 at the moment.

I love the Kimber and once I find a good HP round it likes, I will like it even more.

Kimber Issue with Gold Dots

An explanation of magazine followers, lip styles and the feeding of various bullet types gets rather involved. but the sort story is that the lip style effects the point where the bullet is released from the mag and

1) the original military style long tapered lip flat follower mags are optimized for FMJs, with a late, high and sharp angle release of the round that can be a problem with a hollow point or wad cutter jamming it not the top of the chamber.

2) The Colt commercial style lips are a hybrid combination of straight and tapered lip design and work well with FMJs, hollow points wad cutters due to letting the round rise gradually with less angle than a hard ball mag.

3) The parallel lipped wadcutter style mags are very common and the parallel lips release the round very late and also very suddenly after the bullet is riding up the feed ramp, hopefully popping the back of the round up into the extractor before it does a 3 point jam.

4) Wilson 47D mags are just different and sort of launch the round up in front of the slide with no pretense of controlled feed.  It works in many 1911s though as it avoids most of the pitfalls of 3 point jams due to problems with feed ramp, extractor and magazine geometry.  

If you've got an aluminum framed Kimber, you'll want to avoid the open front metal form style followers as the follower will dip when loading the last round and cause the pointy tip of the follower to "peck" on the softer aluminum feed ramp.  Over time they'll do a lot of damage.

My Gold Match II and Ultra Carry are both pretty non picky but for personal defense purposes I stay with the stock Kimber mags.

You can find bashers for all models out there.
For me the Kimbers are outstanding shooters.
Due to their firing pin safety mechanism I am feeling less inclined with using them as a carry firearms and for carry would opt for the Sig.

I've had 4 Kimbers over past 12 years. Every issue I had with jams was due to the old fashioned factory Kimber mags. One I replaced my mags with Wilson Combat, not a single FT feed. Love my Kimbers and my pair of highly customized Colt,Officers models, all with WC mags.